Pandora iOS Update Includes Auto-Pause, 'Stutter-Free' Playback

Pandora's latest iOS update includes new features like auto-pause when muted and "stutter-free" playback.

Version 4.4, launched on Monday, also includes bug fixes and "improvements to keep your music playing as it should," the company said.

According to Pandora, the update allows users to simply mute their phone to pause a song, without having to open the Pandora app and manually pause. A quick test of the feature at the PCMag offices was not able to make the auto-pause function work. A company spokeswoman, however, said that the app only pauses playback when it's apparent that the listener has left music playing while the device was muted (pictured below).

"To see the feature in action, just lower the volume all the way down to 0 and leave the device running for a few minutes," she said. "It is built for those instances when you realize you left Pandora playing only to come back to a station history full of all sorts of great music you wish you hadn't missed."

There's more to version 4.4, though, including improved playback buffering for un-interrupted listening, as well as all the same URLs that work on the Web.

The iOS Pandora application is currently available for download in the Apple iTunes Store.

This minor update comes about a month after Apple introduced iTunes Radio product at WWDC.

Debuting this fall, Cupertino's Internet radio will be available on iOS 7 devices, Mac and PC computers, and the Apple TV. Like Pandora, iTunes Radio will serve up music based on listening habits, suggesting genre-specific stations, as well as allowing users to create their own stations.

Earlier this month, meanwhile, Spotify boosted its iOS app with new features like reordered search tabs, a different location for the context menu button, and a handful of fresh services. Most notable is the new Discover page, which launched on the Web in late May, and is now available to iPhone owners; it will roll out to all users soon, Spotify said.

For more, see PCMag's review of Pandora for iPhone. Also check out our Q&A with Pandora Chief Technology Officer Tom Conrad.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 12:05 p.m. Eastern with comment from Pandora.